Tag Archives: Sir Ken Robinson

Do schools kill creativity? – Sir Ken Robinson

Just now I posted this post linking to a talk by Sir Ken Robinson just to realize that the classic talk by Sir Ken Robinson about how schools kill creativity was absent on this site.

Although most of you will be familiar with the talk I have to right the wrong and post it here for anyone who hasn’t seen it. And watching it again (and again) never hurt me a single time, so just watch it.

“Every child is born an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when we grow up.” – Pablo Picasso

Did I post this already? Well, if so it’s worth it to post it again. Sir Ken Robinson is one of the few people who is making sense all the time when he’s talking about education, what’s wrong with it and what could or should be done about it.

Well that’s my opinion at least. I care about education in a very simular way.

Also, I happen to care a lot about creativity. I think creativity is going to save the world.

Sadly, the program I’ve been teaching at for eleven years, an Art & Design mid-level high school program, has been ended by our government. It’s the only mid-level program in the Netherlands that teaches creativity and also the only mid-level high school program that after graduating provides access to the higher level art academies. About 80% of the teenagers follow a mid-level route through their high school. For them to gain access to an art academy has now become nearly impossible. (Check this post to learn more about the Dutch school system.)

What disturbs me is that it’s not just that, it’s the fact that creativity is so overly underestimated. Creativity is a capacity that is available to everyone and it has nothing (or little) to do with academic skills. All the mid-level high school programs provide lot’s of skills and competence. However, creativity is not one of them. The higher level high school programs do provide (some) drawing, painting, sculpting, drama and music in their educational systems. Why just them?

Studies have proven that student who spent time on drawing, painting, sculpting, drama and music in school score much higher on language and maths tests. Tests that seem to be very important to some. Sir Ken Robinson is refering to all this in this talk (Youtube).

For me it shouldn’t be the reason why we should care more about creativity and subjects that deal with it directly, but hell, if that’s what it takes to establish a paradigm shift…